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Short story
Short story
Here is a story I wrote, but I can't decide what happens next. The very end will result in Talon escaping the tower, but what should happen between now and then? Ideas welcome! 
UNTIL THE STAIRCASE ENDS
By Wilfire
I absolutely despised this unholy, unnatural, rickety wooden spiral staircase. The stairs curled endlessly around and around the inside of a stone brick tower. Every seven steps, a window showed me a view of clouds and blue sky.
I had been climbing for days. Three days, to be exact. Three sunrises had come and gone. I had passed countless landings that occurred every hundred steps. Each landing had a room attached. I dreaded those rooms. The only good thing about them was food and water.
I mounted another step. I came to another landing. Another threat to survive, another monster, another chance to triumph or die. I stood on the landing, waiting. A half dozen glowing embers encased in shadowy humanoid silhouettes emerged from the adjacent room. They advanced toward me.
I unsheathed my dagger, the one guaranteed by the merchant to evaporate anything magical. I’d just see what she meant by “or your money back” when I got home. If there was one thing I had learned, ‘evaporate’ did not equal ‘kill.’
The shadows made the first move. Trying to defend myself, I blocked and spun around. No luck: I was surrounded. I doubted I would escape this time.
Exhausted, I slumped against the wall. Those shadows had not been defeated easily. Lacerations covered the skin not protected by my leather tunic. Reclining on the floor, I lazily polished my knife.
Its black leather hilt gleamed with embedded obsidian. The blade had a faint blue tinge. The one magical property that reliably worked for me was its ability to sharpen itself without losing any of the blade. This was lucky because I had lost my whetstone twelve landings back.
If only I hadn’t taken that bet with Serenei. She had dared me to go inside the legendary haunted tower. Her exact words: “Talon, you know you aren’t very brave. I bet you couldn’t last five minutes in that haunted tower before you came crying back to me.” Eager to prove her wrong, I completed one landing, and then realized I couldn’t go back down. So now, I climb ever upward, trying to find an escape.
The adrenaline from the fight drained away, and I dozed off where I lay. I stood on the shingled roof of the tower. I peeked over the side, but the only things to be seen were the round stone walls and a sky full of murky clouds. The clouds opened and rain poured out. My clothes were drenched. The rain made the shingles slick, but my balance was unshakable. I raised my open mouth to the sky, reveling in each drop that hit my tongue.
My eyelids cracked open. I was, in fact, wet. Something above me was dripping. A girl formed from water stood over me, droplets falling from her mouth onto my face. “What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice soothing and melodic.
Stunned, I just looked at her. Never before had I encountered another sentient being on the staircase, only monsters trying to kill me.
“Well?”
“Oh! Ummmm, well, you see, I’m here by accident. I’m Talon, by the way,” I finally responded.
“Here by accident? That’s impossible!” she laughed.
“I went in here on purpose,” I explained, “but I didn’t really know what this place was.” The girl tilted her head, a wry smile on her face.
“I guess you need help,” she offered.
I smiled gratefully. “Yeah, that’s the understatement of the year. Food would be amazing. Also a bed.” I pushed myself up and sheathed my knife. Standing at full height, the water girl was at least five inches taller than I was, and I’m not a short guy.
“Oh, and I’m called Dwyn,” she said.
Dwyn led me through the room that used to be full of shadows. She tapped her fingertips over the back wall until a three-by-three block of stone fell backward into a dim tunnel. I crouched down and crawled inside. The damp space seemed to shrink. The smell of mold suffocated me. I panicked and tried to leave the tunnel, but Dwyn pulled me inside again, her watery hands leaving wet marks on my shoulders. “They’re going to respawn! Do you want to fight them all over again?” she snapped. The narrow passage opened out into what looked like Dwyn’s home.
Quilts carpeted the floor. In the far left corner, a cast iron pot was suspended over a compact fireplace. In the far right corner, water cascaded out from a gap in the ceiling stones and through a hole in the floor. Warmth and cinnamon scent permeated the room. Light from the fireplace flickered over the walls. The only thing missing was proper furniture.
Not that I cared about any sort of furniture; I was safe for the first time in three days. I didn’t even bother standing up. I just crawled farther inside and lay on the quilts. The warmth and dimness lulled me to sleep.
“Wake up! Wake up! The shadows! They’re inside!” I woke to Dwyn shaking me violently. I rolled onto my back and scrambled upright. I hadn’t slept nearly long enough, so I was unsteady. “What? Where?” I exclaimed. I tripped over the quilts and almost fell on my face. “Hurry! Follow me, through the back door!” Dwyn commanded. She seized my wrist in an iron grip. Dwyn dragged me over to the fireplace and twisted a lever embedded in the wall. A passage even smaller than the first one opened from the wall. I resisted Dwyn’s efforts to force me inside, but her strength won out.
Unlike the moldy walls of the ‘front’ passage, these desiccated stones smelled of dry leaves. Despite the relative comfort, I felt confined and anxious. I decided to explore my surroundings. I barely discerned the lines that divided the floor, ceiling, and walls. Hesitant, my fingertips skimmed the scratchy stones. Encountering nothing discouraging, I continued my exploration. As I investigated, I brought the first few hours on the staircase to mind.
I was panting from the exertion of defeating a wolf. Bruises and scratches covered my arms and face. I had just finished my first landing. I gave up on my bet with Serenei. I trudged back down the stairs the way I had come, counting lazily. One, two, three . . .
One hundred eleven, one hundred twelve – wait. That wasn't right. On the way up, there had been exactly one hundred steps and then came the landing. Maybe I had miscounted. I kept going. There was no sign of the entrance. I started running down the steps. Dread crept into my bones. This malevolent staircase had me tangled in its web. All my sixteen years were wasted; I was stuck here forevermore.
That was three, no, four, days ago. Now I was trapped inside this tiny warren, trying not to think about being trapped. Wanting to find a way out, I crawled forward. A fork in the tunnel awaited my decision. I gritted my teeth and turned left.
The cloying scent of perfume filled my nose and throat. I almost couldn’t breathe for the thickness in the air. The scent came from farther on in the tunnel. Inching along, I scraped my shoulder against the bricks. The bleeding skin burned, but I continued regardless.
This was never going to end. I was going to be stuck in this rose-scented maze for forever and a day. Lost in thought, I stopped paying attention and almost fell headlong into a steep shaft. I halted and reevaluated my path forward.
Deep and dark, the shaft dropped away rapidly. Feeling around, I discovered a set of rungs set into the ceiling. I tugged on one. It held strong. These could be used to cross the gap. I scrabbled around, found a pebble on the floor, and tossed it straight across the pit. I heard a low click when it hit the other side. The other side was a reasonable distance away to climb to using the bars.
Apprehensive, I wrapped my fingers around one and swung myself to the next. There was a problem. The rung clicked down into place, and I heard a swishing noise. I yelled as a dart punctured my cheek. Releasing the rung, I plummeted into the unknown.
Luckily, the fall ended quickly. I collapsed on my back into silky sand. Reaching up, I plucked the dart from my cheek, grimacing at the sharp sting. I rolled over and pushed myself to a sitting position. Darkness still obscured my vision, except for a small trapezoid of glass set into a wall, about two feet from my face.
I peered through the window. Dwyn stood in her room, her right side facing me. Facing her were three ember-infused shadows. Dwyn smiled at them and gestured toward the entrance of the tunnel that currently confined me. I lay down again, processing everything. I had thought Dwyn was helping me, but obviously, she had just waited for the right moment to hand me over. The whole thing was another of the tower’s illusions.
Apathy washed over me. Did it really matter if I just gave up and let the shadows, or maybe some other monster, kill me? Sure, I’d never see Serenei or my home again, but at the rate I was going, surrender wouldn’t make any difference. I’d just die sooner rather than later.
But then the shadows’ embers flared above me. That was fast. One jumped down into the sandy pit with me. I discovered that the instinct for survival was greater than the desire to surrender. Unsheathing my dagger, I . . . my knife was not where it was supposed to be. There was no way to fight the shadows now. Surrender it is, then.
“Okay, okay! I give up!” I raised my shaking hands. The shadow continued its advance. In response, I backed away, but the shadow didn’t stop. I changed my mind and ran straight at the shadow and past it. It stayed still, nonplussed. Flat out sprinting, I almost halted in doubt, but I continued anyway. The shadow did nothing to prevent me. Darkness enclosed me. I glanced over my shoulder to see that the shadow still hadn’t moved. I turned to face forward again. Just another tunnel. You survived the previous ones, I told myself. Somehow, I didn’t believe my own reassurances.
I resolved never to become ensnared in any type of maze or tunnel or cave ever again. The darkness and close quarters tortured me.
submitted by Wildfire, age untold, she/her
(November 5, 2021 - 5:40 am)
(November 5, 2021 - 5:40 am)
WHOA--
I don't know if I should be commenting because I have no idea how to get from now to the end, but once you figure it out, I can't WAIT to see it!
Maybe try to figure out why the Tower wants Talon, and go from there?
(November 5, 2021 - 3:34 pm)
GENIUS!
You are a genius.
The tower wants Talon! I never thought of the story that way!
Thank you very much (even if it wasn't on purpose).
(November 5, 2021 - 9:03 pm)
(November 5, 2021 - 6:09 pm)
Nice!!! I really like it, especially how Dwyn is almost immediately portrayed as a trustworthy character because she more closely resembles Talon than the monsters. That is something we are all inclined to do, be more trusting of people who are similar to us, and it's not a good habit to form. Your story shatters that notion quite admirably.
I think you should focus on the fact that it's a Tower of Illusions when you write Talon out of it. The Tower doesn't play by the rules of logic, so Talon doesn't necesarily need to perform a logical action to get out. She could summon her own illusions to trick the Tower into collapsing, or something.
(November 5, 2021 - 8:18 pm)
(November 7, 2021 - 6:17 pm)
I have something to say: I WISH I'D WRITTEN THIS STORY!!!!!!!
(November 8, 2021 - 4:32 pm)
Thanks!!!!
(November 8, 2021 - 5:24 pm)
(November 13, 2021 - 8:53 pm)
Who wants to read the next part of the story? :)
The darkness and close quarters had tortured me the whole time. My nerves were going to snap soon from the constant tension and terror this tower subjected me to.
I continued running toward who knew what. Beginning to tire, I stopped and leaned against the wall. I closed my eyes, not that it made much difference in the almost pitch black. Opening my eyes again, I carefully felt along the wall for the millionth time in the last four days. The surface of the rough stone sanded my calloused fingertips to smoothness. Gritty sand chafed against my moccasined feet. Through the tunnel, air breathed in and out, as even as a natural heartbeat. Slowly, the terror of the shadows wavered, and I slid down the wall. Closing my eyes, I sat on the floor with the stones at my back. I’ll just rest for a few minutes, I thought.
What happened? I thought. Oh, I had fallen asleep. First, I noticed that this wasn’t the same place I had fallen asleep, and then I felt the rope fastened to my wrist and ankle. And to top it all off, a skeleton stood to my right, staring at me. The skeleton possessed the bone structure of a young dragon.
“So, will you attack me if I take off the ropes?” it asked. I didn’t answer, too frightened to speak.
“What? Am I too scary? I can change form,” it offered. It waited for my response. When none came, it said, “I’m going to untie the ropes now.”
I watched as its claws picked at the thick ropes until the knots fell apart. Rearing up, the skeleton asked, “So, what’s your name?”
Finally, I answered, “Talon.”
“Strange name. But no matter. Would you like some soup?”
“I-I suppose so.”
“I’m not an ‘it,’ I’m a she,” the dragon informed me. “And yes, I can read minds.”
“Okay.” What else was I supposed to say?
(November 13, 2021 - 9:21 pm)
(November 15, 2021 - 10:20 am)